OfByFor (2012)
We've learned a lot from OWS, although we might also say that what we learned we already knew. The treatment of the press came as no surprise, nor did the epithets of local and national politicians, clamoring for space in the media lime-light. Art has been thought to be at the heart of this protest all along. There have been artists within the protest, organizing and supporting. Many people have viewed the protest itself as an artwork; its status of becoming rather than a fixed or defined being resonates with particular meaning in such identifications.
Art of course can accommodate such moments, and through this hospitality can offer to change somewhat to enable the work itself to be done. Perhaps the ultimate social relevance of art is to become a tool for the masses. We can look back to several points of identification with this notion, through the history of western art; now is the time for this point to be realized in full.
"Of, By, For" uses this as its starting point. This work requires the interruption of the public in order for it to become legible. It uses the very same tools that the media and the policing authorities used against the protesters to construct a work aimed at reflection. Participating with the work creates legible imagery, ignoring or walking away from the work makes the images again become distorted, effected, biased.
Natl Svgs have aimed to attenuate the circumstance of the protest as media frenzy, and in doing so instigate a wider discussion about the position of citizenry as we know it. The images the work is constructed around are screenshots taken over a 6 hour period. They are taken from a streamed reportage captured in NYC on the 2 month anniversary of the Zuccotti Park occupation. One of the members of the protest walked the city's in support of the OWS 2 month celebration, and streamed the images live. They were simultaneously captured via screenshots, and archived for public use by Andrew Mount.
